WHETHER THE MOSAIC LAW BE REPRESENTED IN THE
OLD TESTAMENT AS A TEMPORARY, OR A PERPETUAL
INSTITUTION.
A very great part of Dogmatic Theology among Christians is
founded upon the notion that the Jewish Law was a temporary
dispensation, only to exist till the coming of Jesus, when it was to
be superseded by a more perfect dispensation.
On the contrary, the Jews are persuaded that their Law is of
perpetual obligation, and the Doctrine of the Trinity itself is hardly
more offensive to them, and, as they think, more contradictory to
the Scriptures, than the notion of the abrogation of it. Now, that the
Jews are on the right side of this question, i. e., arguing from the
Old Testament, I shall endeavour to prove by several arguments.
They are all comprised in these positions, 1. That the Mosaic
Institutions are most solemnly, and repeatedly declared to be
perpetual; and we have no account of their being abrogated, or to
be abrogated in the Old Testament. 2. They are declared to be
perpetual by Jesus himself, and were adhered to by the twelve
apostles.
1. Nothing can be more expressly asserted in the Old Testament
than the perpetual obligation of those rites which were to
distinguish the Jews from other nations. It appears, for instance,
(from the 17th ch. of Genesis,) in the tenor of the covenant made
with Abraham, that circumcision was to distinguish his posterity,
to the end of time. It is called an everlasting covenant to be kept
by his posterity through all their generations. See the ch. where the
condition of the covenant is, that God would give to Abraham and
his posterity, the perpetual inheritance of the promised land with
whatever privileges were implied in his being their God, on
condition that their male children were circumcised in testimony of
putting themselves under that covenant. There is no limitation with
respect to time; nay it is expressly said that the covenant should be
perpetual.
The ordinance of the Passover is also said to be perpetual, Ex. xii.
14, &c. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and you
shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations.
You shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. This is repeated
afterwards, and the observance of this rite is confined to Israelites,
Proselytes, and slaves who should be circumcised, v. 48.
The observance of the Sabbath was never to be discontinued, Ex.
xxxi. 16. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath
throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign
between me and the children of Israel for ever.
The appointment of the Family of Aaron to be Priests, was to
continue as long as the Israelites should be a nation. See Lev. vii.
35.
The Feast of Tabernacles was to be forever. Lev. xxiii. 41. It
shall be a statute for ever, in your generations. The observance of
this Festival is particularly mentioned in the prophecies, which
foretell a future settlement of the Jews in their own land, as
obligatory on all the world; as if an union of worship at Jerusalem
was to be, according to them, effected among all nations by the
united observance of this Festival there, see Zech. 14; what he
there says is confirmed by what Isaiah prophecied concerning the
same period. Is. 2. It shall come to pass in the last days, that the
mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the
mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations
shall flow unto it. And many people shall go, and say, Come ye,
and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the
God of Jacob, and He will teach us of his ways, and we will walk
in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the word
of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations,
and rebuke many people, and they shall beat their swords into
ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation. shall not
lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any
more.
With respect to all the Laws of Moses, it is evident from the
manner in which they were promulgated, that they were intended
to be of perpetual obligation upon the Hebrew nation, and that by
the observance of them they were to be distinguished from the
other nations, see Deut. xxvi. 16.
The observance of their peculiar Laws was the express condition
on which the Israelites were to continue in possession of the
promised land; and though on account of their disobedience they
were to be driven out of it, they had the strongest assurances given
them that they should never be utterly destroyed, like many other
nations who should oppress them; but that on their repentance God
would gather them from the remote parts of the world, and bring
them to their own country again. And both Moses, and the later
Prophets assure them, that in consequence of their becoming
obedient to God in all things, which it is asserted they will, (and
which may be the natural consequence of the discipline they will
have gone through,) they shall be continued in the peaceable
enjoyment of the land of promise, in its greatest extent to the end
of time. See to this purpose Deut. iv. 25, &c.; also. Deut. 30,
where it is thus written.
And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon
thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and
shalt call them to mind among all the nations whither the Lord thy
God hath driven thee; and shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and
shall obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day,
thou and thy children, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul; that,
then, the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have
compassion upon thee, and will return, and gather thee from all the
nations whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee. If any of
thine be driven out unto the utmost parts of heaven, from thence
will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch
thee. And the Lord thy God will bring thee unto the Land which
thy Fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it, and He will do
thee good, and multiply thee above thy Fathers. And the Lord thy
God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that thou
mayest live; and the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon
thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee.
And thou shalt return, and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all
his commandments which I command thee this day." &c.
What an extent of prophecy, and how firm a faith in the whole of
it do we see here! (says Dr. Priestly.) The Israelites were not then
in the land of Canaan. It was occupied by nations far more
numerous, and powerful than they; and yet it is distinctly foretold
in the 4th ch. that they would soon take possession of it, and
multiply in it: and that afterwards they would offend God by their
idolatry, and wickedness, and would in con-sequence of it be
driven out of their country; and without being exterminated or
lost, be scattered among the nations of the world; that by this
dispersion, and their calamities, they would at length be reformed,
and restored to the divine favour, and that then (as in the quotation)
in the latter days they would be gathered from all nations, and
restored to their own country, when they would observe all the
laws which were then prescribed to them. Past history, and present
appearances, correspond with such wonderful exactness to what
has been fulfilled of this prophecy, that we can have no doubt with
respect to the complete accomplishment of what remains to be
fulfilled of it.
What was first announced by Moses, is repeated by Isaiah and
other prophets, assuring them of their certain return wherever
dispersed, to their own land in the latter days; and that they should
have the undisturbed possession of it to the end of time.
It has been objected, that the term "for ever" is not always to be
understood in its greatest extant, but is to be interpreted according
to circumstances. This for the sake of saving time I will
acknowledge. But the circumstances in which this phrase is used in
the passages already adduced, and in a number of others of similar
import which might be adduced, clearly indicate, that it is to be
understood in those passages to mean a period as long as the
duration of the Israelitish nation, which elsewhere is said to
continue to the end of the world.
For this reason, among others, this final return of the Jews from
their present dispersed state, cannot at any rate be said to have
been accomplished at their return from the Babylonish captivity.
For that captivity was not by any means such a total dispersion of
the people among all nations, as Moses, and the later prophets
have foretold. Nor does their possession of the country subsequent
to it, at all correspond to that state of peace, and prosperity, which
was promised to succeed this final return.
Figures of speech must, no doubt, be allowed for. But if the whole
of the Jewish polity was to terminate at the destruction of
Jerusalem by Titus, (as is maintained by Christians,) while the
world is still to continue, the magnificent promises made to
Abraham, and his posterity, and to the nation, in general,
afterwards, have never had any proper accomplishment of all.
Because with respect to external prosperity, which is contained in
the promises, many nations have hitherto been more distinguished
by God, than the Jews. Hitherto the posterity of Ishmael has had a
much happier lot than that of Isaac. To say, as Christians do, that
these prophecies have had a spiritual accomplishment in the spread
of the Gospel, when there is nothing in the phraseology in which
the promises are expressed, that could possibly suggest any such
ideas, nay, when the promise itself in the most definite language
expresses the contrary, is so arbitrary a construction as nothing
can warrant. By this mode of interpretation, any event may be said
to be the fulfillment of any prophecy whatever.
Besides, it is perfectly evident, that these prophecies, whether they
will be fulfilled, or not, cannot yet have been fulfilled. For all the
calamity that was ever to befall the Jewish nation is expressly said
to bear no sensible proportion to their subsequent prosperity:
whereas, their prosperity has hitherto borne a small proportion to
their calamity; so that had Abraham really foreseen the fate of his
posterity, he would on this idea, have had little reason to rejoice in
the prospect.
It may be said, that the prosperity of the descendants of Abraham,
was to depend on a condition, viz., their obedience, and that this
condition was not fulfilled. But, besides that the Divine Being must
have foreseen this circumstance, and therefore must have known
that he was only tantalizing Abraham with a promise which would
never be accomplished; this disobedience, and the consequences of
it are expressly mentioned by Moses, and the other Prophets, only
as a temporary thing, and what was to be succeeded by an effectual
repentance, and perpetual obedience, and prosperity.
Among others, let the following prophecy of Isaiah (in which the
future security of Israel is compared to the security of the world
from a second deluge) be considered, and let any impartial person
say, whether the language does not necessarily lead those who
believe the Old Testament, to the expectation of a much more
durable state of Glory, and Happiness, than has, as yet, fallen to the
lot of the posterity of Abraham.
Is. 54, 7. For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great
mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee
for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on
thee, saith the Lord, thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of
Noah unto me. For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should
no more go over the earth, go have I sworn, that I would not be
wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall [or
may] depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not
depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be
removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.--All thy
children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of
thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be established. Thou shalt
be far from oppression, for thou shalt not fear; and from terror, for
it shall not come nigh thee. No weapon formed against thee, shall
prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment,
thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the
Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.
Here, as also in Moses, and other Prophets, an establishment in
righteousness is promised to the Israelites, such as shall secure
their future prosperity; and this promise has not yet been fulfilled.
The promise of future virtue as connected with their future
happiness, is also clearly expressed in Jer. ch. iii. 18.
Had the Jewish nation become extinct, or likely to become so, it
might, with some plausibility, have been said by Christians, that
the purposes of God concerning them were actually fulfilled, and,
therefore, that the words of the promise must have had some other
signification than that which was most obvious. But the Jews are as
much a distinct people as they ever were, and therefore seem
reserved for some future strange destination.
On the whole, it must be allowed, that the settlement of Israel in
the land of Canaan, foretold with such emphasis by the Prophets, is
a settlement which has not yet taken place, but may take place in
that period so frequently, and so emphatically, distinguished by the
title of the latter days; and therefore that whatever is said of
Jewish customs, or modes of worship in the latter days? is a
proof of the meant restoration of their ancient religious rites.
That the institutions of the Mosaic Law are to be continued on the
restoration of the Jews to their own land after their utter dispersion,
is asserted by Moses himself in one of the passages already quoted;
but is more clearly expressed by the subsequent Prophets. In some
of their prophecies, particular mention is made of the observance
of Jewish festivals, and of sacrifices; and in Ezechiel we find a
description of a magnificent Temple, which being closely
connected with his prophecy of the future happy state of the
Israelites in their own land, cannot be understood of any other than
a Temple which is then, according to the Hebrew Prophets, to be
reared with greater magnificence than ever. Mention is also made
of the Glory of the Lord, or that effulgent Shechinah which was
the symbol of the divine presence, filling this Temple, as it did that
of Solomon.
Ezech. xliii. 1, &c. Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the
gate that looketh toward the East; and behold the glory of the Lord
came from the way of the East, and his voice was like the noise of
many waters, and the Earth shined with his Glory.--And the Glory
of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate, whose
prospect is toward the East. So the Spirit took me up, and brought
me into the inner court, and behold the Glory of the Lord filled the
house.--And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my
Throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in
the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name shall
the house of Israel no more defile, &c.
Towards the end of the same chapter we read an account of the
dedication of this new Temple by sacrifices; and particular
directions are given in the succeeding chapters for the Priests, and
for the Prince. If, therefore, there be any truth in these prophecies,
the Jews are not only to return to their own country, and to be
distinguished among the nations, but are to rebuild the Temple, and
to restore the ancient worship.
Having proved that the Old Testament declares the perpetuity of
the Mosaic Law, I proceed, 2dly, to prove that it is declared to be
perpetual by Jesus himself.
But before I adduce my proofs, I beg leave to premise, that when
any Law is solemnly enacted, we expect that the abrogation of it
should be equally solemn, and express, in order that no room for
dispute may remain upon the subject. Accordingly, it is the
custom, I believe, in all countries, not to make any new Law,
contradictory to another before subsisting, without a previous
express abrogation of the old one. And certainly it appears to me a
strange notion to suppose, that the elaborate and noble Law given
from mount Sinai amidst circumstances unexampled, awful, and
tremendously magnificent, and believed to have been declared by
the voice of God to be a perpetual and everlasting Code, should
vanish, perish, and be annihilated by the mere dictum of twelve
fishermen!!
But the fact is otherwise, for Jesus was so far from teaching the
abrogation of that law, that he expressly says-- Think not that I
am come to destroy the law, or the Prophets, I am not come to
destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and
earth pass, one jot, or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law,
till all be fulfilled. This is a most explicit declaration that not the
smallest punctilio in the law of Moses was intended to be set aside
by the Gospel. Nay more, he expressly commanded his disciples to
the same purpose--The Scribes and Pharisees (says he,) sit in
Moses seat; all therefore whatsoever they command you, that
observe, and do.
It is said in answer to this by Christian Divines, that his discourse
relates to things of a moral nature, and that he only meant, that no
part of the Moral Law was to be abolished. But besides that the
expression is general, there could be no occasion to make so
solemn a declaration against what he could not have been
suspected of intending, viz. of abolishing the moral law. He seems
in his discourse to have had in view the additions that had been
made to the law. These he sets aside, but no part of the original law
itself.
It has also been urged that by fulfilling, may be meant such an
accomplishment of it as would imply the superseding of it when
the purposes for which it was instituted should be answered. To
silence this explication it will be sufficient to produce a few out of
many passages of the New Testament where the term fulfil occurs
in connexion with the term law. Thus Paul says, Gal. v. 14, All
the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself, and again. Rom. xiii. 8, He that loveth
another, hath fulfilled the law. But certainly, notwithstanding this
fulfilment of the moral law, it remains in as full force as ever.
The Apostles understood Jesus to mean as we have asserted. For it
is evident from the Acts, that the Christians at Jerusalem were
zealous in attachment to the law of Moses; this is evident from
their surprise at Peter's conduct with regard to Cornelius; and in
the dispute about imposing circumcision upon the Gentiles;
observe there was no dispute about its being obligatory upon Jews.
Paul was indeed vehemently accused of teaching a contrary
doctrine, as we find in the history of the transactions respecting
him in his last journey to Jerusalem. Acts xxi. 21, They (i. e. the
Christians) are informed of thee (says James to Paul) that thou
teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles, to forsake
Moses, saying that they ought not to circumscise their children,
neither to walk after the custom. Here James gives Paul to
understand that he considered the report as a calumny, and
accordingly, to convince the Jewish Christians that it was a false
report, he advises Paul to be at charges with some Jewish
Christians, who were under a vow of Nazaritism, (which is an
instance in point to prove that the first Christians kept the law,) and
thus publicly manifest that he himself walked orderly, and kept
the law. Paul complies with this advice, and purified himself in
the temple, and did what was done in like cases by the strictest
Jews. He also circumcised Timothy, who was a convert to
Christianity, because he was the son of a Jewish Mother. And he
solemnly declared in open court. Acts xxv. 8, Against the law of
the Jews, neither against the Temple, have I offended any thing at
all, and again, to the Jews at Rome, Acts xxviii., 7, he assures
them that he had done nothing against the people, or the customs
of the fathers.
But some men will say, did not Paul expressly teach the
abrogation of the law, in his Epistles, especially in that to the
Galatians? I answer, he undoubtedly did; and in so doing he
contradicted the Old Testament, his master Jesus, the twelve
Apostles, and himself too. But how can this be? I answer, it is
none of my concern to reconcile the conduct of Paul; or to defend
his equivocations. It is pretty clear, that he did not dare to preach
this doctrine at Jerusalem. He confined this hidden wisdom, to
the Gentiles. To the Jews he became as a Jew; and to the
uncircumcised as one uncircumcised, he was all things to all
men! and for this conduct he gives you his reason, viz. that he
was determined at any rate to gain some. If this be double
dealing, dissimulation, and equivocation, I cannot help it; it is none
of my concern, I leave it to the Commentators, and the
reconciliators, the disciples of Surenhusius; let them look to it;
perhaps they can hunt up some traditionary rules of interpretation
among the Jews, that will help them to explain the matter.
Lastly, it has been said that there was no occasion for Jesus, or his
Apostles to be very explicit with respect to the abolition of the
laws of Moses, since the Temple was to be soon destroyed, when
the Jewish worship would cease of course.
This argument, flimsy as it is, is nevertheless the instar omnium of
the Christian Divines to prove the abolishment of this Law: (for the
other arguments adduced by them as prophecies of it from the 1
ch. of Isaiah, and some of the Psalms, are nothing, to the purpose;
they being merely declarations of God, that he preferred obedience
in the weightier matters of the Law; Justice, Mercy, and Holiness,
to ceremonial observances; and that repentance was of more avail
with him than offering thousands of rams, and fed beasts,) and this
argument like so many others, when weighed in the balance, will
be found wanting.
For, as the destruction of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar certainly
did not abolish the Law, so neither did the destruction by Titus, do
it. And as it would be notoriously absurd to maintain the first, so it
is equally so to maintain the last, position. Besides, a very
considerable part of that Law can be, and for these seventeen
hundred years, has been kept without the Temple. As for example,
circumcision, distinction of meats, and many others. And when, if
ever, they shall return to their own land, and rebuild the Temple,
they will then, according to the Old Testament, observe the whole,
and with greater splendour than ever.